Macromedia Dreamweaver and
Flash Extensions
By Jerry B. Day

Introduction
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Jerry Day
Knowledge Solutions Engineer
(classroom and online training project manager)
Agilent Technologies
Loveland, Colorado

Professional Background
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Co-chairperson of the Society for Technical
Communication’s Online Special Interest
Group
First used Dreamweaver in 1997
Attended Macromedia User Group conferences in 95, 96, and 97

Professional Background
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US Air Force photojournalist and combat photographer for 22 years
Instructor, course developer, and course manager in the US Air Force photography school at Lowry
Air Base in Denver for 8 years
Manager of all US Air Force photographic activities in Europe from 1976 to 1980 (best job I ever had)
Technical writer and trainer for the Air Force and several civilian companies

Professional Background
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Project manager, developer, and writer for training and publications on HP ScanJet scanners,
HP Photosmart scanners, HP CD and DVD writers, HP Unix workstations (second best job I ever had)
Knowledge Solutions Engineer
(classroom and online training project manager) for Agilent 5DX X-ray inspection system

Professional Background
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Speaker at STC, Corel, and Adobe conferences in Portland, Denver, Atlanta, Orlando, San Jose,
San Francisco, London, England and Ottawa,
Canada
Presentations on Adobe Postscript, Photoshop,
Acrobat, scanning, digital photography, web graphics, book publishing, etc.
Beta tester for Adobe (Photoshop, Streamline,
Illustrator, Acrobat)
Was the first beta site for the Windows version of
Adobe PageMaker (1986)

Professional History
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Adobe Photoshop Certified Expert
Have written four commercial books including one for Random House and one for Prentice Hall

Introduction
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Dreamweaver has become the premiere web authoring tool for professional developers.
The latest version, 4.0, was introduced in
November 2000.
Dreamweaver has an open architecture
The UI is written in XML and you can modify it if you know XML.

Introduction
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Extensions extend the power and usability of Dreamweaver and Flash.
Some of the extensions I will talk about require Macromedia Fireworks 4.0.
Most of the presentation will be on
Dreamweaver, but most of it applies to
Flash as well.

Agenda
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What is an extension?
How do I get them?
How much do they cost?
What is the Extension
Manager?
What is Macromedia
Exchange?
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What types of extensions are available?
How do they work?
Do Dreamweaver 3 extensions work in
Dreamweaver 4?
Flash Extensions

Agenda
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Resources
Web sites
Demo of extensions

What is an Extension?
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Extensions are software applications, normally written as JavaScripts.
Extensions are the equivalent of Photoshop plug-ins or Macromedia Director xtras.
Extensions are plug-ins to Dreamweaver and Flash.
Extensions add new features to
Dreamweaver and Flash.

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What is an Extension?
 There are three types of Dreamweaver extensions:
Objects
Behaviors
Commands
This is important as you will need to know where the extension can be found in
Dreamweaver.

What is a Dreamweaver
Extension?
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Behaviors are Javascripts.
Objects are HTML code that represents an image or HTML tag.
Commands are used to modify pages and streamline production…an example of a command is “Sort Table.”
Extensions let you easily add behaviors, objects, and commands to Dreamweaver.

Extension Categories
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Accessibility
Application Server
Browser Compatibility
Dynamic HTML
E-commerce
Fireworks
Learning (Coursebuilder for Dreamweaver and
Learning Site)

Extension Categories
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Navigation
Productivity
Rich Media
Scripting
Security
Style and Format
Tables
Text
 HTML Online
Help

How (and where) do I get them?
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Extensions can be downloaded, installed, and organized with the Macromedia Extension
Manager.
They can be obtained directly from Macromedia’s extension web site (Macromedia Exchange).
They can also be obtained from third party developers (a list will be included in the resources).

How much do they cost?
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Most extensions are free!
Most were produced by developers for their own use and made them available for free to the Dreamweaver community.
A few extension developers charge a fee.
Macromedia does not sell extensions, but there are links to fee sites from
Macromedia Exchange.

Macromedia Extension Manager?
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The Macromedia Extension Manager is a free add-on for Dreamweaver and Flash.
It is used to install and keep track of your extensions.
If you are using a version of Dreamweaver prior to 4.0, you must download and install the extension manager.
It is included with Dreamweaver 4.

Macromedia Extension Manager
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After it is installed, it is available from within
Dreamweaver.
Extension Manager works only with
Dreamweaver 3 and 4.
It is available for both Mac and Windows, but only in English.
Extension Manager also works with Macromedia
Flash 5 and Dreamweaver UltaDev.

Macromedia Extension Manager?
 The latest version of is 1.2.

Macromedia Extension Manager
 The Extension Manager is accessed from the Dreamweaver Commands menu.

Macromedia Extension Manager
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EM is used to add and delete extensions.
A brief description of each extension is provided.
A link to
Macromedia
Exchange is included.

What if I Need Help with
Extension Manager?
 Extension Manager has online help.

What if I Need Help with
Extension Manager?
Extension
Manager help

What if I Need Help with the
Extensions themselves?
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Some of the extensions include HTML help files.
Some of them include Word or Acrobat
PDF documentation.
Macromedia CourseBuilder includes a 315 page manual in PDF.

What if I Need Help with the
Extensions themselves?
The
Coursebuilder extension also includes
HTML help manual in addition to the
Acrobat manual.

What if I Need Help with the
Extensions themselves?
The Learning Site extension includes
HTML help.

Tips for Downloading Extensions
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Download and install one extension at a time.
Most Dreamweaver and Flash extensions are good.
However, some extensions are buggy and can cause Dreamweaver or Flash to crash or hang.
If you download and install a group of them at one time, you may not be able to learn which is causing the problem.

Tips for Downloading Extensions
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Create a directory on your hard drive named “extensions.”
Download extensions into and install from this directory.
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If you ever have to reinstall Dreamweaver, you will not have to download the extensions again.
Copy the directory to a Zip disc or CDR for safe keeping.

Tips for Downloading Extensions
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Most extensions on the Macromedia
Exchange have a user forum.
The developer of the extension often monitors the forum and answers questions.
Checkout the forum before downloading a an extension to see what other uses have to say about it.

Macromedia Exchange
This is the user discussion group for the
Cleanup
FrontPage
HTML extension discussion group.

What is Macromedia Exchange?
Exchange is the part of the
Macromedia web site where you can download extensions.
There are
Exchanges for
Dreamweaver and Flash.

Macromedia Exchange
Macromedia requires that you become a member of
Macromedia.com to use Exchange.

Macromedia Exchange
Membership is free, but you do need to register and setup a login name
(login name is your email address) and password.
cool guy

Macromedia Exchange
Following
Login, you can access the
Exchange for
Dreamweaver.

Macromedia Exchange
From the initial
Exchange screen you can select extensions or download the
Extension
Manager.

Macromedia Exchange
You can view a list of extension categories or a list of them all.

Macromedia Exchange

What types of extensions are available?
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Additional Flash buttons
Search engines
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Reformat tables
Automatically create forms
Detect and direct visitors based on their browser

How do they work?
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Extensions add capabilities to
Dreamweaver and Flash and become part of the program.
Most are written in JavaScript.

How do they work?
Some extensions are added to the
Behaviors
Panel.
Some extensions are added to the
Objects Panel.

How do they work?
Some extensions are accessed from the Commands menu.
Some extensions are accessed from the
Insert menu.

Extension Examples
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At last count, there were 354 extensions in
Macromedia Exchange.
I can only show a few of them.
Following are a few of my favorites:

Extension Examples
Menu Builder extension creates a drop down navigation menu.

Extension Examples
Menu Builder can add a go button automatically.

Extension Examples
The Cleanup FrontPage HTML extension removes the bad HTML that the web editor from
Redmond produces.

Extension Examples
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Symbols for
Writers extension
Math
Symbols extension
Note the HTML code

Extension Examples
Dreamweaver
CourseBuilder was previously a separate program.
Now it is a free extension.

Extension Examples
Learning Site
Extension builds instructional sites with builtin navigation, tracking features and lesson administration.

Extension Examples
The Learning Site extension includes several types of site templates. This is the commercial look. This extension can be combined with the
CourseBuilder extension.

Extension Examples
How long would it take to create an interactive form like this?

Extension Examples
The Common
Form Builder extension can built the form in a few seconds.
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Extension Examples
A variation of the form builder is the
Credit Form builder. This one includes credit card info.
Jerry Day
670 Clarendon Drive
Longmont

Extension Examples
How much work would it be to create calendars on your web pages?

Extension Examples
The Insert
Calendar extension lets you make calendars in a few seconds.

Extension Examples
The Alternate
Table Rows extension is used to format existing tables.
You can select the row colors without having to know the hex colors.

Extension Examples
Alternate table rows can be formatted quickly and easily. The formatting can be changed if you do not like the effect.

Extension Examples
The Bullet extension converts an unordered list to a Fireworks gif file.
This extension requires that you have Fireworks 4 installed.

Extension Examples
 Deva Tools for
Dreamweaver
 Create
HTML Help
TOCs and indexes
 Microsoft
HTML Help

Extension Examples

Extension Examples
 Deva Search for
Dreamweaver
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JavaScript search engine
Creates platform independent search files for any browser that supports
JavaScript

Extension Examples
Deva Tools are added to the
Dreamweaver toolbar.

Extension Examples
The Scrollable Layer extension gives the capability to create absolutely positioned scrollable text area.
You can determine where on the page, how wide, and how high the area is.

Extension Examples
The scroll up and scroll down labels are added automatically. The required JavaScripting is also generated.

Do earlier extensions work in
Dreamweaver 4?
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Dreamweaver 1 and 2 extensions do not work in versions 3 and 4.
Most extensions work both in 3 and 4.
Some new ones only work in 4.
A few older ones do not work in 4, but are being updated.

Flash Extensions

Flash Extensions
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Flash Extensions are similar to
Dreamweaver extensions.
They are installed the same way with
Extension Manager.
They can be obtained from Macromedia
Exchange web site.

Flash Extensions
Flash Extensions are installed in the
Common Library menu or as Object
Actions.

Flash Extensions
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Smart Clips
ActionScripts
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Learning Extensions
Buttons Extensions
Clip Art Extensions

Flash Learning Extensions

Flash Learning Extensions

Flash Learning Extensions
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Drag-and-drop
Fill-in-the blank
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Hot object
Multiple-choice
True/false

Buttons Extension

Tickler Extension
The Tickler provides an easy way to make text scroll.

Scroller Extension
The Scroller Extension provides an easy way to make text scroll.

Scroller Extension

Dreamweaver Resources
The Dreamweaver user guide includes information and instructions on extensions.

Dreamweaver Resources
The absolute
Dreamweaver power user resource.
New 4.0 version will be out soon. Book includes
CDROM with a number of extensions.

Dreamweaver Resources
My favorite Dreamweaver book. It includes a CDROM with excellent videos. A 4.0 version will be out soon.

Dreamweaver Resources
Lynda Weinman also produces training CDROMs. The
Dreamweaver 4 version was just released. It has over 6 hours of training videos and practice files. The training shows how to use the Extension Manager and
Macromedia Exchange.

Dreamweaver Resources
Just introduced. A good resource on
Dreamweaver, but not much on extensions.
Will be published in July. Is a twoday course on Dreamweaver in a book. Do not know how much it will have on extensions.

Dreamweaver Resources
Computer Arts magazine is an invaluable source of information on
Dreamweaver and
Flash. It is published in
England and is expensive ($13.95 per issues), but well worth it. Some issues are specials on one subject.

Dreamweaver Resources
Each issue of Computer
Arts includes a CDROM with demo software, tutorials, extensions, and sample Flash movies.

Dreamweaver Resources
The latest special issue includes 33 pages of
Dreamweaver tutorials, demo versions of 4.0 and extensions.

Dreamweaver Resources
This article on
Dreamweaver extensions was in the latest special issue. I got some of my ideas for this presentation from this article.

Dreamweaver Resources
This is an example of a tutorial in the
Computer Arts magazine. This one showed how to use the
Macromedia Exchange extensions web site.

Dreamweaver Resources
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Massimo’s Corner www.massimocorner.com
Dreamweaver Depot http://people.netscape.com/andreww/dreamweaver
Dreamweaver News and Information http://www.owlnet/dwnews
Dreamweaver Supply Bin http://home.att.net/~JCB.BEI/Dreamweaver
Help Weavers www.helpweavers.com

Dreamweaver Resources
 Beginners Learning Resource http://www.beginners.co.uk/
 Deja News--Dreamweaver Newsgroup
Archive http://groups.google.com/

Flash Resources
Computer Arts magazine does special issues on
Flash. This is the latest and another will be out in
April.

Flash Resources
From Peachpit Press and
Macromedia Press. A complete course in Flash. Just published.
From Lynda Weinman. Over 6 hours of video training including practice files.

Flash Resources
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FlashPlanet.com
http://www.flashplanet.com
Flashmagazine http://www.flashmagazine.com
FlashChallenge http://www.flashchallenge.com
Flash Academy http://www.enetserve.com/tutorials
Flash Kit web site www.flashkit.com

Dreamweaver Extensions
Web Sites
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Massimo’s Corner www.massimocorner.com
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Dreamweaver Depot http://people.netscape.com/andreww/dreamweaver
Dreamweaver News and Information http://www.owlnet/dwnews
Dreamweaver Supply Bin http://home.att.net/~JCB.BEI/Dreamweaver

Dreamweaver Extensions
Web Sites
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Project VII Design www.projectseven.com/dreamweaver
My Computer www.mycomputer.com
Yaromat http://www.yaromat.com
Dreamweaver etc.
http://www.idest.com/dreamweaver /
Macromedia Exchange for Dreamweaver www.macromedia.com/software/dreamweaver

Dreamweaver Extensions
Web Sites
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Webmonkey www.hotwired.lycos.com/javascript/code_library/ed_ext
Deva Tools for Dreamweaver www.devahelp.com

Flash Extensions Web Sites
 Macromedia Exchange for Flash www.macromedia.com/software/flash

That’s All Folks…
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Hope this was useful.
I will now demo the process.
Visit the Macromedia web site for more information ( www.macromedia.com
).
I am not a consultant, but I will try to answer your questions…email only!
Jerry Day jerry_day@agilent.com

I’ll Be Doing This Again…
…so you can suffer twice!
 STC Northern Colorado SIG
July 26 (probably in Fort
Collins).

Dreamweaver and Flash
Extensions
Stop for Demo of Extensions